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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (1729)	6/2/2003 3:46:52 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793625

Bylines, Datelines and Fault Lines at The N.Y. Times By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 2, 2003; Page C01 Mainly a rehash, but it shows the story still has legs.The comments about other reporters pulling a "Bragg" may mean that the firings aren't over. Kurtz also had the Editor's memo story on PC and liberalism from the Los Angeles Times. Warrens column was certainly "Right on." How did one of the world's greatest newspapers wind up in a civil war? After being rocked by the serial fabrications of Jayson Blair and the controversial assisted reporting of Rick Bragg, the New York Times has been struggling to repair the damage. But the wounds are far deeper than immediately apparent, in part because of long-simmering resentment over Executive Editor Howell Raines's bruising management style -- and a bureaucratic structure that protected the likes of Blair and Bragg, though their conduct was vastly different. As the newsroom meltdown played out in the press, Raines and his management team hunkered down and granted no interviews, frustrating many reporters who believe no one is defending the reputation of the vast majority of staffers who work hard and adhere to high standards. Some feel betrayed -- "the whole place is in total rebellion," says one veteran -- and say they have lost confidence in Raines. Raines acknowledged at a tumultuous staff meeting May 14 that many in the Times newsroom see him as arrogant, inaccessible and presiding over a climate of fear in which a relative handful of star correspondents are coddled. He vowed to change those perceptions. With Blair, who faked at least 36 stories, the question was how editors could have kept promoting him despite an erratic, error-filled work record. Wasn't this the sort of corporate incompetence that the paper often wrote stories about? With Bragg, his critics question why editors catered to a busy, best-selling author who openly admits that he used stringers and interns to do some of his reporting, even on leisurely feature stories. But the Pulitzer Prize winner's defenders ask why he was singled out for punishment for operating within a system -- in which a small army of assistants toils for no credit -- that was openly approved of by the brass. With so many creative egos under one roof, all newspapers tend to foster messy rivalries and corrosive gossip. But the Times is a particularly large and factionalized place, with competition among far-flung desks and between New York and the Washington bureau. Combine that with Raines's drive to boost the paper's "metabolism" -- in part by pushing national reporters to file more stories from more cities -- and the usual grumbling has given way to a wave of resignations and some angry finger-pointing. The issues raised by Bragg's suspension (for not crediting an unofficial intern on a tale about struggling oystermen and for stopping only briefly in the place where the story was set) and his subsequent resignation are especially sensitive. How long should a reporter be in a given place for a dateline to have any meaning? How much help should stringers, interns, researchers and clerks be allowed to give before the reporter is improperly exploiting the work of others? And if that is a problem, why has the Times never addressed it before? Unlike many newspapers, the tradition-bound Times -- which was years behind the industry in allowing double bylines -- rarely credits stringers, even in agate type. Some stringers say that's unfair, while others say it's rewarding enough to have the experience of working for such a prestigious paper. But few questioned the system until Bragg's Oystergate. Since most newspapers use stringers and researchers -- and many reporters have parachuted into town for a quick story -- these lines are sometimes blurry. Times correspondent Peter Kilborn, for example, has criticized Bragg's brand of stringer-assisted reporting as "outrageous." But former Times intern Amie Parnes says she did substantial reporting for Kilborn when he was filling in for an ailing Bragg as Miami bureau chief in 2000. On a story about Elian Gonzalez's family, Parnes says, she dug out the legal documents that revealed that two of the Cuban boy's uncles had multiple drunk-driving convictions -- which was prominently featured in a front-page story by Kilborn. Parnes says both Kilborn and the national desk rejected her request for a byline. "I don't think he has the right to point the finger at someone and say, 'I don't do this,' when clearly he does," says Parnes, now a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter. "That's what boiled my blood." She adds: "There's the jealousy factor with Rick. . . . Here's a guy who isn't a Timesman, didn't go to an Ivy League college, and walked into the Times and won a Pulitzer." Kilborn says he extensively reported the 1,200-word portrait of the Gonzalez family and that he sent Parnes back "again and again" until she came up with the DUI records. "That was terrific legwork," he says. "She didn't write a word. She contributed a valuable component of a very large story. That's sort of the ideal use of stringers." The battle over bylines and datelines comes down to truth in packaging. The Times, with its great strengths and hallowed history, will survive the current warfare. But the painful self-examination being forced upon the Gray Lady and all her journalistic brethren is probably healthy in the long run. washingtonpost.com